City of Fort Morgan to receive $1 million to fix Riverside ball fields

Posted:
04/15/2014 04:00:00 PM MDT

The City of Fort Morgan will receive about $1 million from state and federal agencies to help restore the Riverside Park ball fields that were destroyed during last year’s floods.An award of $505,650 from Great Outdoors Colorado, announced Wednesday during a news conference with Gov. John Hickenlooper in Lyons, will allow the city to upgrade the playing fields and surrounding area to make the facilities even better than before the flood damage. GOCO also set aside contingency reserves equaling 12 percent of the grant award, or roughly another $60,000, which the city can apply to receive if needed.Combining the GOCO grant with an anticipated $491,000 in disaster relief funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and city insurance coverage will give the city about $1 million to restore and improve the popular ball fields. Plans call for expanding the fields to regulation size to meet standards for play by all age groups, installing new seating areas, restrooms and other amenities, and improving the area around the fields.The city plans to participate in a FEMA pilot program that will allow disaster relief funding to be used to upgrade facilities, instead of merely restoring them to the condition they were in before a disaster.

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Because of the limited availability of recreational fields in the region, city staff felt it was in the best interest of the city, the community and the region to pursue options that could modernize the fields to make them more universally suitable for all-age play.The GOCO grant is part of a $13 million Flood Recovery Initiative designed by GOCO to work in conjunction with FEMA funding in flood-damaged communities in the state. Fort Morgan’s ball field project is one of 13 chosen to receive part of this funding. About $8 million of the GOCO total will be used to create a trail corridor along U.S. Highway 36 between Lyons and Estes Park.Great Outdoors Colorado invests a portion of Colorado Lottery proceeds to help preserve and enhance the state’s parks, trails, wildlife, rivers and open spaces. GOCO’s independent board awards competitive grants to local governments and land trusts, and makes investments through Colorado Parks and Wildlife.